A Vision of Venice Pavilion as an Arts Center for Children

Te’amir Sweeney is a talkative, gregarious boy who lives in Oakwood, a Venice neighborhood where mothers are said to put their babies to bed in bathtubs to protect them from drive-by bullets.

I don’t know if Te’amir, 7 1/2 and a passionate gymnast, spends much time thinking about street violence and gang intrigue, but he needs to be protected from it. And, like all the children in this violence-plagued city, he needs a safe haven to play.

Last summer, his mother enrolled him in a photography workshop sponsored by Venice Arts Mecca, a nonprofit neighborhood group founded by actor Bingwa Thomas after the riots. The idea was to offer up the arts as an alternative to the streets.

Thomas spoke to residents of Oakwood to learn what their pressing needs were; he discovered that child care ranked first, followed by activities for children, teens and young adults.

“There are always sports available, but as far as teaching a love for the arts and creativity, these people can really offer something,” said Ramona Sweeney, Te’amir’s mother.

This spring, Venice Arts Mecca has offered video, photography and painting workshops; a jazz ensemble, and a theater group. Venues vary; the organization could offer a whole lot more if it had a permanent space.

I propose to take over a controversial and underused building--the Venice Pavilion--and turn it into a community arts center, with a day-care facility for children and job training for teen-agers. Lynn Warshafsky, president of the board of Venice Arts Mecca, estimates that 100 jobs--not all of them permanent--would be created by the renovation.

The group has several potential corporate donors lined up--including Southern California Gas Co. and L.A. Gear--and figures an initial investment of $1.6 million will suffice for renovation and operating expenses in the first year.

All it wants from the city is a long-term lease.

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The Pavilion sits on the sands of Venice Beach like a moribund whale. It commands singular views of the bay--better than those of the swanky beach clubs up the way in Santa Monica, better than those of the ritzy homes along the Marina Peninsula to the south.

Decaying, graffiti-scared, ignored and smelling of urine, it is, in many ways, a symbol of the way this city treats its youth.

Built in 1961 on more than five acres, the Pavilion contains a large indoor theater; an outdoor stage; a wind-sheltered, palm-dotted picnic area with 60 picnic tables; a police substation; kitchen facilities for a seaside cafe; shuffleboard and boccie ball courts.

In 1985, when the financial going got rough, the city gave up on the place. Today, the theater is closed and in disrepair, the kitchens are not used, and the picnic area is a fierce-looking graffiti pit. The only viable operation in the place these days is the police substation. In Venice public meetings, discussion of the Pavilion’s fate is guaranteed to raise a ruckus.

A plan to renovate the Boardwalk is being formulated, and because the city has had neither the will, apparently, nor the imagination to recapture an invaluable asset, the Pavilion’s days may be numbered.

Councilwoman Ruth Galanter, who has supported Venice Arts Mecca’s programs, said she has taken no position on whether the Pavilion should be renovated or removed. “Its future needs to be addressed,” she said, “along with the whole future of the beachfront area.”

Many people want the thing gone--too ugly, too hard to make it work. Too attractive to drug dealers and the homeless. Others, with a little more vision, see an unparalleled resource for a community virtually under siege by gangs--last weekend alone, four people were shot in Venice drive-bys. They are asking the city to give the Pavilion, and the children of Venice, another chance.

You could argue, if you were so inclined, that the spirit of the law requires it.

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In November, 1992, L.A. County voters passed Proposition A, aimed at improving the county’s parks and open spaces with the express intent of providing “safe places for children to play and alternatives to gangs.” The law also gives high priority “to help prevent gangs by using funds from this act to employ youth to work on restoration or rehabilitation projects . . . in their communities.”

Venice Beach has been allocated a modest $10 million to carry out the mandates of Proposition A, which include repair of the pier, restoration of beach facilities, improvements to the median of Venice Boulevard and to Ballona Lagoon.

Much of the discussion at rancorous public meetings has centered on whether the boardwalk should be repaved with brick or asphalt, how much to spend on trash cans and restrooms, and how best to restore the historic picnic pagodas.

On Wednesday, the Board of Recreation and Park Commissioners will consider whether to ask nonprofit groups for Pavilion restoration ideas. This could be good news for the Venice Arts Mecca.

But it could be even better news for the children.